(NBC News) – A New Jersey couple accused of scamming a homeless good Samaritan out of hundreds of thousands of…

(NBC News) – A New Jersey couple accused of scamming a homeless good Samaritan out of hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of anonline fundraiser that went for a year ago had initially conspired with him to concoct a “fictitious story,” prosecutors allege.

A complaint obtained by NBC Philadelphia says couple Mark D’Amico and Kate McClure made up a GoFundMe campaign in honor of Johnny Bobbitt Jr. so that all three could raise money by deceiving generous donors. They kept up the ruse by preventing donors from acquiring information that would affect their judgment about the campaign and “by failing to correct their story,” the complaint added.

Ernest Badway, an attorney for D’Amico and McClure, told NBC

The initially feel-good tale began last fall when Bobbitt, a homeless Marine veteran, gave McClure his charge $ 20 after she ran out of gas on a freeway ramp in Philadelphia, she said. Moved by the gesture, McClure and D’Amico started a GoFundMe campaign for Bobbitt.

“Johnny did not ask me for a dollar, and I “McClure wrote in her post.

4,000 people.” I have not been able to pay him at that moment because I did not have any cash, but I’ve been stopping by his spot for the past few weeks. ” and earned him $ 402,000. The outpouring, in turn, touched the couple: “He will never have to worry about a roof over his head again !!” they later posted on GoFundMe while thanking “everyone who had a part of this amazing ride.”

But Bobbitt believed the couple was dipping into some of the money for themselves, and in late August attorneys for him filed a lawsuit to try to force McClure and D’Amico to turn over the remaining cash.

Bobbitt’s attorneys allge he has only received $ 75,000 of the money raised and claim the couple spent donations on items such as a BMW and on luxury vacations.

The couple denied the allegations and said they had withheld some of the money because they feared Bobbitt, who has battled a drug addiction, would spend it on drugs.

In September, GoFundMe promised Bobbitt that he would receive the rest of the money owed to him. It was unclear Thursday if the fundraising site had already provided it to him. A spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Burlington County Prosecutor in New Jersey began investigating D’Amico and McClure over the summer.